Preparing for the energy revolution!

Britain is about to welcome a revolution that will help to meet the two current challenges of climate change and the credit crunch. Businesses and householders are rapidly realising that they can take control of the power they generate to light and heat their homes; and government-set Feed-In-Tariffs (FiTs) set to come in force next spring will help them benefit financially.

Finding out more about actions to take and benefits that will accrue can be challenging. A new event being held at Wembley Stadium on 1 and 2 December this year is set to solve this and de-mystify the whole procedure. Smart Energy ’09, with its conference organised by the Renewable Energy Association and exhibition organised by Media Generation Ventures, offers organisations and contractors working on behalf of individuals, the perfect one-stop-opportunity to learn, network – and do business.

The first day of the conferences focuses on ‘Smart Energy and Businesses’ and the second on ‘Smart Energy and Communities’ – both days feature sessions designed to explain the different technology options available, their features and their practical application, as well as an practical information on how each of these technologies will benefit under the new government incentives.

Bioengineered Plants Gone Wild

This squash plant shows the effects of a viral disease.

Miruna Sasu

October 27, 2009

Special genes inserted into crop plants have a way of leaking into the environment. That much scientists know for sure. What they’re less certain about is what effect those genes have on plants growing in the wild.

Andrew Stephenson is interested in answering that question. He’s a plant ecologist at Penn State University. Plant breeders put things called transgenes into plants to give them desirable properties such as disease resistance.

“People were concerned that when the transgene escapes into the wild populations, it will provide a fitness advantage,” says Stephenson.

A fitness advantage means the wild plants, with this advantageous transgene, might grow out of control, mucking up the ecosystem.

Meet The Cucurbita

Stephenson studies a wild squash plant called cucurbita, the Texas gourd. It looks like a pumpkin plant, but with smaller leaves. The fruits are about the size of a baseball or softball, they’re round or slightly pear-shaped, and they taste terrible.

Cucurbita shows up throughout the American Southwest and Mexico. Stephenson wanted to know what would happen when his wild gourd picked up a transgene that’s used in cultivated squash to protect the crop from plant viruses.

So he purposely created a strain of Texas gourd with the transgene, and planted some next to the same gourd that didn’t have the transgene. Then he waited for spring, when aphids would bring a plant virus to the field.

Stephenson reports in the journal PNAS that as the virus spread through the field, it only affected the Texas gourd without the transgene.

Air Polution causes health costs to soar

Air pollution is responsible for over R4-billion in health costs, the department of environmental affairs said on Monday. “Health care costs associated with the burning of fossil fuels amount to R4-billion,” said the department’s air quality nation manager Peter Lukey in Vanderbijlpark. Lukey said the poor were disproportionally affected by air pollution. “They carry a double burden because firstly they are poor and secondly they are sick.” Lukey said the poor often lived in settlements which were downwind from industrial zones. – Sapa

Solar Heating Industry Review 2009

The solar thermal heating market is forecast to reach huge growth in the coming years as policy pushes renewable space and water heating up the agenda.

by David Appleyard, Associate Editor

London, UK [Power Engineering International]

In 2008, solar thermal heating and cooling solutions gained favour in more and more countries,’ says European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) president Olivier Drücke. ‘The solar thermal market in the EU and Switzerland grew by over 60% to 3.3 GWth of new capacity, that is 4.76 million m2 of collector area,’ he adds.

Indeed, the latest ESTIF annual statistics on European solar thermal markets show that while demand for solar thermal technologies increased strongly in Spain, Italy and France, the biggest push came from the German market, which more than doubled from 0.7 GWth to 1.5 GWth of newly installed capacity in 2008.

 

Boost for UK renewable energy sector

Inward investment in the UK has been bolstered by the opening of two new windfarms in the Highlands.

 

 

The firm responsible for the development, Italian energy company Falck Renewables, has also revealed plans to monitor all Europe-wide operations from its headquarters near Inverness – a move that will create 20 jobs.

New Brochures Available to Download

Being a low carbon company, we have this year decided to print thousands less brochures and make them available for download. All our clients receive brochures via email instead of post, unless specially requested.

So you can download our brochures knowing that you are contributing to ACT ON CO2 campaign!

• Verticle Axis Wind Turbine 2009 Brochure
• 750KW Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine 2009 Brochure
• 2MW Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine 2009 Brochure
• LED Street Lighting 2009 Brochure
• Solar Hot Water Systems 2009 Brochure

Renewable energy ‘the future’ for Notts homes

Friday, September 04, 2009, 07:00
By bryan.henesey@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk

WITH experts predicting an energy price burst in the near future, there has never been a better time to investigate ways of cutting your household bills. While many may be tempted to shop around for the best deal, a push is being made to get more people in Notts to consider setting up their own energy supply to meet their needs. The Energy Saving Trust is offering residents the chance to start planning for the long-term and investigate what renewable energy technology is available for their homes, and which suits them best. West Bridgford resident Jake Jackson is one of the first to have his home assessed by the trust’s renewable energy advisors. Mr Jackson, 59, who has lived in Villiers Road for 22 years, said he had been looking into renewable energy options for 18 months. >>> read more..

Welcome to F3 Energy Creation’s new blog

F3 Energy Creation’s new blog coming soon.